


The Hospital Visit

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort Food, Daisy Is The Only Marvel Superhero, F/M, First Kiss, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Inhumans (Marvel), Older Man/Younger Woman, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson: damsel in distress, Set After 4:04, Watchdogs (Marvel), implied Mack/Elena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 23:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8347507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Phil gets injured on a mission and Daisy visits him in hospital.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BrilliantlyHorrid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/gifts), [Skyepilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/gifts), [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts), [RowboatCop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowboatCop/gifts).



> Another random prompt from the [Ersatz Genremixer](http://www.seasip.info/Misc/genremixer.html): hospital stay.

"Where is he?" Daisy demands of Mack as she hurries into the hospital and finds him pacing the hallway.

"This way," he says, and leads her to a private room. There's an Agent she doesn't know outside the door, but alongside that Agent is someone she does know.

"Elena," she says and manages a smile at her friend.

Elena smiles back, and reaches out to give Daisy a hug. "It's okay, mi amiga, he's going to be okay," she says softly.

Daisy swallows, then nods, and Elena opens the door and ushers her inside, then closes the door behind her, leaving her alone with Phil. He looks ridiculously tiny in the hospital bed, his skin paler than usual aside from the spectacular bruises on his face. She moves over to the bedside, and fights back tears, biting at her lip as she reaches out to gently cup his cheek, her thumb barely brushing over the bruise that blooms on his cheekbone.

"Oh Phil," she whispers, and leans down to press her lips to his brow, before she sits down on the hard plastic chair beside the bed. She slips her hand under his as it rests over the covers, mindful of his taped together fingers, two of which are broken. She's reminded, abruptly, of that day she found him out in the desert after Raina took him in exchange for Ace Peterson. She doesn't cry over his hands this time, but she does drop her head in order to briefly press her lips to the back of his hand. 

This is all her fault and she could kick herself for thinking that it was okay to come back to SHIELD, to be around her friends again, especially Phil Coulson. She's the rotten core at the centre of everything and where she goes, death follows. She bites her lip again, tasting blood as she forces herself not to give in to her tears. Painful as the thought of leaving again is, she knows that she'll have to – just as soon as Phil's recovered from being brutally beaten up by three members of the Watchdogs for attempting to protect a young Inhuman. The two of them had gone after three teens, all Inhumans. They'd arrived first, but the Watchdogs had arrived while Daisy was getting two of the three to safety, before she could return for the third teen and Phil. (She has yet to master carrying more than two people with her when she makes her powered jumps, or she'd have taken all four of them at once.) 

Phil had done his best, but three against one, and that one protecting a 13 year old child, had been very unfair odds. She'd arrived in time to stop the Watchdogs leaving with little Tia, but not fast enough to prevent them from hurting her best friend first.

The Watchdogs are under police guard in another hospital, and the three teenaged Inhumans are en route to the Cocoon, guarded by May and Agent Piper, whom Daisy hardly knows, but May trusts implicitly, plus an entire Strike Team. And Phil's lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

Daisy looks up as the door opens, and a young black woman in a nurse's uniform comes in. She doesn't seem surprised to see Daisy at Phil's bedside, so Daisy guesses that either Mack or Elena told her she was there. 

"Sorry, am I not supposed to be here?" Daisy asks, starting to get up.

"It's fine," the nurse says quickly, a smile on her face. "You can stay as long as you like."

Daisy swallows. "Thank you." She watches the nurse as she approaches Phil from the other side of the bed and checks the various bits of equipment to which he's hooked up. "Is he – " She pauses and swallows again, fighting against the sensation of her throat closing and the hot tears in the backs of her eyes. "Will he be okay?"

The nurse nods. "He's just sedated because of the pain," she says in a reassuring tone as she makes notes on a clipboard. "He's woken up since he was brought in." She looks across the bed. "Are you Daisy?"

Daisy nods warily, and the nurse smiles. "Good. He was asking after you. He was very insistent that we find you. Your friends outside had to spend quite some time reassuring him that you were okay." The nurse seems to look more closely at her. "You're not hurt?"

Daisy shakes her head. "Just out of energy," she says quietly. "My friend's gone to raid the nearest store for food supplies."

The nurse nods. "Let me know if you need anything, though." When Daisy frowns at her in puzzlement, the nurse smiles again. "I'm used to powered people," she says in a quiet voice, and Daisy's eyes widen in surprise. "I'll leave him to you. He should wake up within an hour."

"Thank you," Daisy says, trying not burst into tears of relief at this news.

The nurse goes out, and moments later Mack holds open the door as Elena slips in, a paper sack in her hand. She drops it into Daisy's lap with her right hand, while her left squeezes Daisy's shoulder in solidarity, and it's all Daisy can do to keep from crying. Elena's continuing support and friendship have been like a beacon of hope for her, and she's deeply grateful, even though she's sure she doesn't deserve such loyalty.

"There's sandwiches, soda, candy bars, and some Little Debbie snack cakes in there," Elena tells her. "Mack says you like those."

Daisy nods. "Thank you for getting this."

"De nada." She gives Daisy's shoulder another squeeze, then she goes back out.

Daisy empties the paper sack one item at a time, then puts back the Little Debbies and the candy bars, before starting on the three different kinds of sandwich. She's just finished the third and final one, and is trying to decide between having a candy bar or a snack cake next when she realises that Phil is waking up. She puts the bottle of soda on the nightstand, then slips her right hand back under his, while she rests her left hand lightly over his forearm.

"Daisy?" he croaks out without even opening his eyes, and she very gently tightens her hold on his arm.

"I'm here, Phil," she tells him, and he does crack open his eyes at that, a relieved expression creeping onto his face as he focuses on her and sees her beside his bed.

"The teens?" he asks, and she thinks how like him it is that he's lying in a hospital bed but worrying about someone else's safety.

"They're safe, Phil," she says in a reassuring tone. "On their way to the Cocoon with May and a Strike Team."

"Good." He tries to lick his lips, and she guesses the sedative has made him thirsty.

"Water?" she asks, and he nods, then winces and she guesses that pretty much every move he makes hurts right now. She grabs the glass on his nightstand and pours some water from the lidded pitcher, then she puts one of the straws that's been provided in the glass. She looks at him assessingly, then says, "Can you bear it if I help you sit up a bit?"

"I want that water," he says, his voice still raspy.

"Okay. I'll be as gentle as I can." She sets the glass aside, then stands up, and eases her arm under his shoulders, then lifts his upper body just enough to shove the pillows about with her other hand until she judges he's propped high enough to swallow without choking. 

As she eases her arm back out from behind him, he stares directly at her, then rasps out, "I love you so much, Daisy."

She stares at him, shocked. Not shocked by the declaration, because she's known for some time that Phil loves her, just as she loves him, but shocked by the fact he's said it out loud. He frowns when she doesn't immediately respond, then adds, "That's not the drugs talking."

"Okay," she says, definitely feeling dazed. She grabs the glass and brings it in front of him, holding the straw steady so he can take the end in his mouth and suck. 

He lets go of the straw after drinking two-thirds of the water in the glass, and she sets it aside again.

"I love you, too, Phil," she tells him when he stares expectantly at her. She touches the tips of her fingers to the back of his hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when they brought you in."

"Daisy," he says, his tone gently chiding. "You had to concentrate on getting Tia, and Nat, and Emily to safety. They were the mission, not me."

She clasps his wrist, then slides her hand up his forearm to hold his elbow. "You're always my mission, Phil."

He grins, a somewhat dopey looking grin, courtesy of the sedatives. "Kiss me?"

She stares at him, wide-eyed. "You want me to kiss you?"

"Doesn't the hero usually kiss the damsel in distress after rescuing her?" he asks, his tone teasing now.

She chuckles. "Yeah, he does." She leans over and lightly brushes her lips over his.

"Properly," he says, and she surprises them both by chuckling at this. She presses her lips to his mouth more firmly, and he immediately opens his mouth beneath hers, and she quickly finds herself kissing him properly, their tongues sliding against each other, before he draws the tip of his over the roof of her mouth, making her moan softly.

"Phil," she says, pulling back. "You're in no fit state – "

"But when I am," he says, cutting her off.

"You really want that with me?" she asks, not quite daring to believe what he seems to be saying.

"I really do," he says firmly. 

"But – " She stops, wondering if she should tell him she was planning to leave again. Then wondering if she could leave again, knowing that he wants a more intimate relationship with her.

"But what," he asks gently.

"I was going to leave," she whispers, and is surprised by the fact that he's obviously not surprised by her words.

"Yes, I thought you might think that was necessary. It's not, you know."

"But – " She begins again.

"Daisy," he says. "Today wasn't your fault, okay? No one could've predicted the Watchdogs would arrive before we got away – another 5 minutes and they'd have missed us. And I hope you know that even if you hadn't been here, if you hadn't come back to SHIELD, I'd have gone after Tia and her siblings myself.

"Yeah, you would've," she agreed, smiling fondly at him. 

He lifts his left arm and wraps it around her, holding her body close to his, or as close as she can get with the hospital bed between them. "I thought that you were happier now that you're in charge of protecting the Inhumans on SHIELD's behalf. If you go solo again you won't have SHIELD's resources to call on, you won't have any backup, and you'll go back to pushing yourself too hard until you break all the bones in your hand and arm again." 

He brushes his nose against her cheek. "I don't want that for you. Besides, you do a much better job advocating for Inhuman rights as a SHIELD Agent, than as a 'lone wolf vigilante', which is what the public's perception of you was." He presses a light kiss to her lips. "I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again – SHIELD needs you, Daisy. You make us better, you make us more humane, and that is vitally important – almost as important as keeping people, including Inhumans, safe."

"Phil." She sighs, then kisses him back. "I don't want to run," she says.

"Then don't," he says simply. "You know I'll never try to stop you from doing whatever you think is best for you." She nods. "But equally, I don't want you to quit doing what needs to be done when you're the best person for that job." He brings his hand around to cup her cheek, brushing his thumb along her cheekbone. "And believe me when I tell you that I'm not just saying this so I can get in your pants."

Daisy laughs softly, and he beams, even though smiling must hurt his bruises.

"Okay. I'll stay."

"Thank you."

She's half convinced staying will be a mistake, that Phil and her friends will be in more danger than if she leaves, but she can't deny he's right – she has more resources as a SHIELD Agent than as a 'vigilante', and she's been able to help more Inhumans since she came back to SHIELD than she managed in more than 7 months working solo. 

And she'll freely admit that she doesn't want to be alone and lonely again. More than that, though – Phil Coulson wants her. She can't deny that's an influencing factor, but she never dared hope or dream that he might one day tell her he wanted to be with her.

She leans in and gives him a long, slow kiss, full of promise, and when she pulls away, he's grinning like a total dork, and after a moment, she grins back.


End file.
